All About Coffee by William H. Ukers (best new books to read .TXT) 📕

Caffein is a means of refreshing bodily and mental activity, so that this may be prolonged when the condition of fatigue has already begun to produce restraint, and to call for more severe exertion of the will, a state which, as is well known, is painful or disagreeable.

This advantageous effect, in conditions of fatigue, of small quantities of caffein, as it is commonly taken in coffee or tea, might, however, by continued use become injurious, if it were in all cases necessarily exerted; that is to say, if by caffein the muscles and nerves were directly spurred on to increased activity. This is not the case, however, and just in this lies the peculiarity of the effect in question. The muscles and the simultaneously-acting nerves only under the influence of caffein respond more easily to the impulse of the will, but do not develop spontaneous activity; that is, without the co-operation of the will.

The character of caffein action makes plain that these food materials do not injure the organism by their caffein content, and do not by continued use cause any chronic form of illness.

According to Dr. Hollingworth's[285] deductions, caffein is the only known stimulant that quickens the functions of the human body without a subsequent period of depression. His explanation for this behavior is that "caffein acts as a lubricator for the nervous system, having an actual physical action whereby the nerves are enabled to do their work more easily. Other stimulants act on the nerves themselves, causing a waste of energy, and consequently, according to nature's law, a period of depression follows, and the whole process tends to injure the human machine." In not a single instance during his experiments at Columbia University did depression follow the use of caffein.

Of course, caffein, like any other alkaloid, if used to excess will prove harmful, due to the over-stimulation induced by it. However, taken in moderate quantities, as in coffee and tea by normal persons, the conclusions of Hirsch[286] may be taken as correct, namely: caffein is a mild stimulant, without direct effect on the muscles, the effect resulting from its own destruction and being temporary and transitory; it is not a depressant either initially or eventually; and is not habit-forming but a true stimulant, as distinguished from sedatives and habit-forming drugs.

Caffein and Mental and Motor Efficiency

The literature on the influence of caffein on fatigue has been summarized, and the older experiments clearly pointed out, by Rivers[287]. A summary of the most important researches which have had as their object the determination of the influence of caffein on mental and motor processes has been made by Hollingworth[288], from whose monograph much of the following material has been taken.

Increase in the force of muscular contractions was demonstrated in 1892 by De Sarlo and Barnardini[289] for caffein and by Kraepelin for tea. These investigators used the dynamometer as a measure of the force of contraction; however, most of the subsequent work on motor processes has been by the ergographic method. Ugolino Mosso[290], Koch[291]. Rossi[292], Sobieranski[293], Hoch and Kraepelin,[294] Destrée,[295] Benedicenti,[296] Schumberg,[297] Hellsten,[298] and Joteyko,[299] have all observed a stimulating effect of caffein on ergographic performance. Only one investigation of those reported by Rivers failed to find an appreciable effect, that of Oseretzkowsky and Kraepelin,[300] while Feré[301] affirms that the effect is only an acceleration of fatigue.

In spite of the general agreement as to the presence of stimulation there is some dissension regarding whether only the height of the contractions or their number or both are affected. As might be expected from the great diversity of methods employed, the quantitative results also have varied considerably. Carefully controlled experiments by Rivers and Webber[302] "confirm in general the conclusion reached by all previous workers that caffein stimulates the capacity for muscular work; and it is clear that this increase is not due to the various psychical factors of interest, sensory stimulation, and suggestion, which the experiments were especially designed to exclude. The greatest increase ... falls, however, far short of that described by some previous workers, such as Mosso; and it is probable that part of the effect described by these workers was due to the factors in question."

Investigations of mental processes under the influence of caffein have been much less frequent, most notable among which are those of Dietl and Vintschgau,[303] Dehio,[304] Kraepelin and Hoch,[305] Ach,[306] Langfeld,[307] and Rivers.[308] Kraepelin[309] observes: "We know that tea and coffee increase our mental efficiency in a definite way, and we use these as a means of overcoming mental fatigue ... In the morning these drinks remove the last traces of sleepiness and in the evening when we still have intellectual tasks to dispose of they aid in keeping us awake." Their use induces a greater briskness and clearness of thought, after which secondary fatigue is either entirely absent or is very slight.

Tendency toward habituation of the pyschic functions to caffein has been studied by Wedemeyer[310], who found that in the regular administration of it in the course of four to five weeks there is a measurable weakening of its action on psychic processes.

Rivers[311], who seems to have been the first to appreciate fully the genuine and practical importance of thoroughly controlling the psychological factors that are likely to play a rôle in such experiments, concludes that "caffein increases the capacity for both muscular and mental work, this stimulating action persisting for a considerable time after the substance has been taken without there being any evidence, with moderate doses, of reaction leading to diminished capacity for work, the substance thus really diminishing and not merely obscuring the effects of fatigue."